A Student Accidentally Made A Battery That Lasts 400 Years

Imagine, for a moment, a world in which you never have to charge your phone again. Thanks to an invention by a student at UC Irvine, this fantasy may very well be on its way. Mya Le Thai, a doctoral candidate at the school, accidentally invented a battery that could last 400 years. This could mean long lives for every electronic device you know. Not bad for an accident.

In the lab in April 2016, Thai coated a gold nanowire in a manganese dioxide shell, and then encased that result in an electrolyte made of a Plexiglas-like gel. Typically, nanowires in lithium-ion batteries grow brittle with every charge and eventually die out. But not Thai's battery. This creation can withstand hundreds of thousands of charges, meaning the battery could feasibly last for 400 years. Get more information about Thai's work in the video below.